1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an image measuring apparatus, and in particular to an image measuring apparatus favorably used in an image measuring device, a quantitative microscope having an installed imaging unit, or the like. The image measuring apparatus is configured such that an image of a measured object placed on a stage is captured by a camera, the captured image is displayed on a captured image display screen, and determination results based on results of a measurement are displayed in an overview list separately from the captured image of the measured object.
2. Description of Related Art
A typical image measuring device, such as those described in Japanese Patent Publication No. H03-57403 and Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2003-139520, includes a parts program capable of recording a measurement procedure that has been performed once and, when measuring a measured object (also referred to as a work piece) having an identical shape, is capable of automatically recreating the recorded measurement procedure. In addition, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2001-319219, the image measuring apparatus includes tolerance comparison in which, after a measured object has been measured, measured values are compared against design values to determine whether the measured values are within a predetermined tolerance. Typically, in a case where continuous measurement of a plurality of work pieces having identical shapes is performed by the image measuring device using the parts program, an operator executes the parts program for each work piece and verifies the output tolerance determination results to determine quality of the work piece.
Display of the determination results of the tolerance comparison (“OK” or “NG” (fail)) is performed by presenting notations for the measured values and design values in a measurement results display region, as shown in FIG. 1, for example. However, the tolerance determination results are difficult to grasp with this display and so, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2001-59708, an overview display is provided in which the determination results are given in a list, separately from an image of the measured object.
The determination results of the tolerance comparison are typically displayed with letters such as “OK” and “NG” together with the measurement results, as shown in FIG. 1. The operator therefore has difficulty in intuitively understanding whether the measurement results approximate the design value or are on the edge of the tolerance range, whether the measurement results are larger or smaller than the design value, and the like.
In addition, in a case where continuous measurement of work pieces having identical shapes is performed by a conventional image measuring system, in order to verify a shift in the measurement results, interpretation of each measurement result must be performed separately using a statistical/analytical function installed in the image measuring system or an external program having a statistical/analytical function, making it difficult for the operator to verify a shift in the measurement results in real time.
Accordingly, the operator has difficulty verifying deviations and variations in the shape of a work piece. For example, even though a tool processing a work piece experiences wear and the like and processing accuracy of work pieces degrades over time, an operator performing measurement has difficulty noticing such degradation and is unable to detect the degradation until the tolerance determination results return an “NG.”